OH184 Douglas H. Cates Oral History

Douglas H. Cates provides a firsthand account of the Duvin Mine explosion that occurred on July 14, 1939 in Providence, Kentucky. The disaster killed twenty eight miners and left ten wounded. He describes the conditions faced by coal miners in central Kentucky in the first half of the twentieth century. Cates details various aspects of coal mining life, including the company stores, “flickers”, accident compensation, wages and comradely among miners. He concludes by describing various events related to the unionization of the coal miners in the 1930s.